Origin requires suddenly TS3 Starter Pack instead of base game!?

Oh god, I've been struggling with this problem for several hours now, I've tried to contact EA Support (newsflash; won't help) and tried to search for a solution to this problem all over the interwebs. I'm not really sure if my topic is in the right place, but please have some mercy, I'm starting to be pretty desperate with this.

So, I have several EPs that have been installed on my PC with the good old discs. Now I finally had the courage to install the game straight from the internet, so I purchased an Origin code for TS3 Island Paradise. Everything went completely perfect. I installed the EP with Origin and it worked like a dream with all my other EPs and the base game. But this week something happened, I dunno if it was some kind of Origin update that caused this problem. I launched my game as usual and I noticed that the newest EP, Island Paradise didn't show in the launcher anymore. I opened Origin and found it in the base game's "extra content" tab. So things should be ok, but it still doesn't show in the launcher and in the game. I tried to repair the game in Origin and it did seem like it repaired the base game and Island Paradise, but it still didn't work. Then I searched Island Paradise with the Origin search bar thingy and there's a little info icon that says that the game requires The Sims 3 Starter Pack, which I don't own. And when I click the little text that says "view in libary" it opens The Sims 3 Starter Pack window that doesn't have any options in it, which means I can't play it. (Sorry I'm really bad at explaining this, I'll try to add a screenshot of what is happening.) So it seems like there is a bug that makes Origin open EPs in Starter Pack, even though you had the normal base game, or something like that. It also seems like it with the other EPs that you can install from Origin. For example when I search for Into The Future, it also says there that it requires the Starter Pack.

I have reinstalled Island Paradise and tried to search for the game files from my computer and try to launch it there, but I can't find the files anywhere, not even from the Origin games.

Please, please, please help me, I truly am desperate at this point. Has anyone ever had this problem? Or do you have any ideas what to do in this situation?

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What did EA tell you? I don't think this is actually a "problem" so much as EA being ridiculous. It looks like all of the TS3 EPs are clearly labeled as requiring the Starter Pack - likewise, there is no "The Sims 3" in Origin anymore. I had originally purchased TS3 the day it came out on disc, but looking in my library (although I don't currently have it installed) it looks like my copy has been changed to the Starter Pack automatically. Have you checked to see if there are any updates for your base game? (Also, is your base game registered in Origin?) Since the base game of TS3 is no longer on Origin, it looks like the expansions aren't going to work because just the regular base game doesn't exist anymore, as far as Origin is concerned, so it thinks you have an expansion with no base game.

What did EA tell you? I don't think this is actually a "problem" so much as EA being ridiculous. It looks like all of the TS3 EPs are clearly labeled as requiring the Starter Pack - likewise, there is no "The Sims 3" in Origin anymore. I had originally purchased TS3 the day it came out on disc, but looking in my library (although I don't currently have it installed) it looks like my copy has been changed to the Starter Pack automatically. Have you checked to see if there are any updates for your base game? (Also, is your base game registered in Origin?) Since the base game of TS3 is no longer on Origin, it looks like the expansions aren't going to work because just the regular base game doesn't exist anymore, as far as Origin is concerned, so it thinks you have an expansion with no base game.

In the Finnish EA help they just told me to call them (no, I'm not gonna wait for hours for them to answer. I've had only bad experience in the Finnish EA help) and in the US help I used the chat and they told me they will find out about this problem and then told me to wait for maximum 72 hours Haven't heard from them yet.

Seriously, you're a genius! I'll follow your advice. I would have never thought that EA changing the base game to starter pack would be the problem here. So thank you very much!

I did manage to talk to someone through EA's help chat, and my issues were escalated. I received an email from EA's support, acknowledging that they received the information about the issue, but that was just last night. As of yet, I haven't received a response/resolution from them.

Just wanted to share what information I had, in case anyone further comes digging for information.

I did manage to talk to someone through EA's help chat, and my issues were escalated. I received an email from EA's support, acknowledging that they received the information about the issue, but that was just last night. As of yet, I haven't received a response/resolution from them.

Just wanted to share what information I had, in case anyone further comes digging for information.

I'll follow up if I hear anything from EA.

Regards, and hope these issues are cleared up for everyone soon.

I really hope they fix this problem soon. I checked many different forums and seems that more and more people are having this problem. On Mod The Sims someone even speculated that everybody who has bought a game from third party member that is not certified by EA will have this problem and this is EA's way to prevent people from buying games from third parties. If this is the case I'm definetly gonna get angry.

I'm going to share a little secret with you. When dealing with a company that is slow to respond send them an email or leave a phone message in which you say, "this is the third (or whatever) time I have tried to contact you." If you tell them specifically how many times you've tried to get through to them that lights a fire under them. They go, "Crap! I'm being unprofessional!" And they get back to you, pronto.

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